by Charlotte Burrous,
Fremont County Crusader
It’s been five years since that fateful night, but the family still has no idea who killed their mother, Loa Kennedy. The most frustrating part of it is they are still not getting any answers from either Fremont County law enforcement or the 11th District DA’s office.
The nightmare began when Loa Kennedy was found brutally murdered outside her home on June 24, 2018, on Chinook Drive in the Big Horn Ranch subdivision off of Oak Creek Grade on CR 143.
“There was several people living on her property,” said her son Gary Kennedy. “[A couple was living]25 feet from where it happened. He had pit bulls that had already attacked people. The dogs were involved during and after.”
“It wasn’t the dogs that did it though,” said Gary’s wife, Cindy Kennedy. “She was murdered.”
According to Cindy, the coroner said she probably died around 2 a.m., but no one contacted authorities until about 6:30 a.m. that morning.
Cindy added, “When the detectives showed up, the (couple living 25 feet from Loa )told them it was an animal attack. The
detectives treated it as an animal attackinstead as a crime scene”
Also, the coroner didn’t get a phone call until later and didn’t arrive on scene until between 2 and 4 p.m. “When he went up, he treated it as a crime scene,” Cindy said.
When the coroner examined Kennedy’s body, he recorded it on the death certificate as “homicide violence to include chop
force injuries and decapitation with perimortem animal predation.”
“This is where we’re pretty irritated because it seems [law enforcement] really screwed up,” Cindy continued. “They basically said they screwed up. That’s where our issue comes in about them not do[ing] anything.”
The detectives didn’t search anybody and they let people go in and out of the property and the crime scene, Gary added. In addition, none of the vehicles were searched.
Whenever the family calls law enforce-ment, they hear there is “nothing new.” At one time, he thought maybe the DA’s office would further investigate, but that hasn’t happened either.
According to one report, neighbors heard yelling and screaming coming from the ranch. One neighbor went to the property and discovered Loa dead outside her RV. The neighbors said she was “partially clothed and brutally murdered,” a report said.
Another neighbor noticed a man wearing a black jacket acting suspiciously on the road out of the subdivision, but so far, nothing has come from that. A black jacket was found later in the woods and a pair of shoes in a dumpster. But that too failed to lead to results.
A single, older woman, Loa was known for her caring attitude towards people, letting vagrants, ex-convicts and the homeless live on her property. She even volunteered at Loaves & Fishes in Cañon City, helping those who needed help.
Loa is survived by her sons Bobby Rooks and Gary Kennedy, as well as numerous granddaughters, grandsons and two sisters.
The family continues to wait after almost five years have passed and the family still has no answers.
“It’s a total nightmare,” Gary said.
